Monday, September 21, 2009

Minnesota Ren Fest

Today is mine and Michelle's 18th wedding anniversary. Since I did not have anything scheduled for this weekend I asked Michelle a couple weeks ago what she would like to do for our anniversary. Usually I am the one who plans our activities but I thought that maybe Michelle would prefer to celebrate our anniversary doing something other then chasing birds, bugs, and animals through woods, fields and swamps.
Her choice was to spend Saturday at the Minnesota Ren Fest. This was a fitting choice since when we got married we were poor and did not have enough money to travel somewhere nice for a honeymoon so we spent a few days over in Wisconsin and then came back and spent the following Saturday at the Ren Fest.
We went and watched several of the stage shows. It was fun seeing some of the people who I knew from the many years that I was in business as a family entertainer doing magic and balloon sculpting.
Besides the stage shows there are a lot of other things to do and see. Food is a large part of the days activities. This is the first time that we have been to the Ren Fest since I was diagnosed with diabetes about three years ago, so finding suitable food for my strict diet was a bit more difficult.
There are also always a lot of colorful characters at the festival. Some are street entertainers, like the ones pictured above, while other are actually spectators who decide to become a part of the atmosphere by dressing up.
We spent a lot of time looking at art, cut glass, costume pieces, and sculptures. One of my favorites was this 2 piece bronze dragon. It is difficult to see but it is in a small pool and the mouth is a fountain. If only I had a yard big enough to build a small water feature.
And what festival would be complete with out rides. This giant rocking horse looked way to scary for us old folks so we decided to pass. We ended up spending only about half a day, because it got kind of warm in the afternoon but we both had a good time reliving some fond old memories.

18 comments:

Helen said...

Happy Anniversary to the two of you. Sounds like a fun day. Great pictures. Helen

Sarah Sullivan said...

Happy Anniversary!! How fun is that I love Ren fairs!! Tell her she is not alone..mine would rather be out digging rocks - LOL!! Congrats!! Loved your butterflies today too!!! Sarah

Eve said...

What a fun idea - I love Renaissance festivals!!!

Happy Anniversary!

Carver said...

Happy Anniversary! That looks like a fun festival. Great shots!

Sylvia K said...

Happy Anniversary!! And I love Renaissance festivals! This one looks like so much fun! Great shots!

Enjoy!

Sylvia

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

EB: Fun post with some great photos that are outside your norm, nicely done.

Joe Todd said...

Looks like a great time.. I was at a festival myself and enjoyed watching the characters

Dirkjogt said...

Happy anniversary! Very nice pictures of the Ren fest, colorful artists, looks like fun.

SandyCarlson said...

She made a great choice. Your enticing photos make me want to try out one of these festivals.

Anonymous said...

that looks like a fun thing to go to. i like going to festivals and fairs.

Carol said...

She made a great choice!!

www.wildlifearoundus.blogspot.com

Marites said...

those invididuals look like quite interesting with their costumes. I also like the dragon water fountain, it's cool.

My World entry is up here.

eileeninmd said...

What great fun. I love the rocking horse. Maryland has the same festival. I would like looking at the arts and crafts. Thanks for sharing.

marcia@joyismygoal said...

oh my that was fun!!

Sistertex said...

I love the RenFest, you really caught some great faces there. While I was there I even caught Captain Jack on the prowl.

http://spacialpeepol.blogspot.com/search/label/Captain%20Jack

It is a great time we never miss it. I do think you captured much better shots than I did though. :)

Allison said...

Looks fun and interesting! Happy Anniversary!!

Regina said...

HO cool. Beautiful shots.

Splendid Little Stars said...

These are great photos! We have a Renaissance festival in my part of the world also. very fun!